The Cornell study, released last year in Climatic Change Letters, was lead by Professor of Ecology and Environmental Biology Robert Howarth , and is the first of its kind to study the global warming impact of natural gas extraction from shale deposits. The conclusion was that fracking releases up to 8% of the extracted methane directly into the atmosphere, and reports that all methane will contribute to 44% of global warming. The significant jump in leaked gas using fracking compared to conventional gas wells is due to the size of the fracking wells and how they operate; fracking wells take more time to drill before being capped, require more venting, and there is an issue of flowback waste.